KARVATCHAR DIARY: "WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE THOSE PROTOCOLS YOU HAVE SIGNED"
Khandut Avetyan
2009/ 10/05 | 18:03
I have been living in the village of Verin Shen in the liberated
Artsakh district of Karvatchar for the past eight years. When we
relocated here back in November 2001 we faced numerous obstacles
that we overcame with dignity. Now, I can’t imagine living anywhere
else. The land welcomes us with a blustery autumn and the deep freeze
of winter.
We weren’t prepared for that winter either psychologically or
financially. There was no electricity, telephone service and almost no
transport. All the stores belonged to one individual and the nearest
was ten kilometers from our house. I will not tell you what prices
were being charges in those stores out of shame.
Happily, all this is in the past and mere memory. Our neighbors
were as industrious and hard-working as we were; creating their own
future. Some couldn’t cope with the hardships and eventually moved
away. But they were replaced by other newcomers.
Years passed. We got our electricity and cell phone service. Public
transport is still lacking but it’s better than before.
Armenian children were born here and after a two hundred year absence
their birth certificates note that they were born in KarvatcharWith
each passing year of liberation, stone-crosses and gravestones with
medieval Armenian inscriptions were removed from the walls of house
and stables and from street pavements.
We were literally forced to remove them piece by piece, cleaning
them from the two hundred years of cow dung and plaster they has been
profaned with by the former usurpers of the land.
We also had loses; people died due to the harsh conditions. One was my
father, a poet, linguist and a soldier; a man who simply was devoted
to his country with all his heart and soul throughout his entire life.
He was born in the village of Akori, near the town of Alaverdi in
northern Armenia. His parents are buried there. My father’s forbearers
went to Lori from the ancient district of Akori Our relatives continue
to reproach us for burying him in a land with "an uncertain political
future". I find these words to be very insulting.
Of course, we have experienced many problems here but the land’s
beautiful majesty has become an inseparable part of my conscience.
The rebirth of this land has given my life new meaning. On its
sacrificial altar I have simply been able to offer my services as a
teacher, replete with sweat and tears.
My sisters have raised families here and offered their eldest sons
to the land. My father was the first in these parts to be laid to
eternal rest according to Armenian Church ritual.
Some may say that I am overly emotional as I write these lines. But
I am not ashamed to write them down since I believe they impart a
valuable message regarding our nation and state from a historical
perspective.
The blood of our soldiers and the cries of our newly born gave us
back our honor, trampled by genocide and centuries of dispersion,
and gave us the right to walk with pride as free men and women.
As a woman I can appreciate and understand how great this gift is. To
be a sister or wife to those men who fought an unequal war and to
make them a gift in turn – to bring their children into this world.
Today, how many Armenian women actually think about who saved
them from dishonor, figuratively speaking and in the direct sense
of the word? These are empty words and are free of oratorical
embellishment. This question cuts to the very heart of the matter.
The world has not changed and neither has the Turk. Peace and the
rebirth of Armenia will only be possible if the gates to our country
are steadfastly defended with the might of our men; in the name of
life and honor.
Sadly, what is taking place in Yerevan today greatly angers me. That
despairing defeatism, to buy peace and prosperity at the price of
making life-threatening concessions to the enemy, is disgusting and
an abomination.
One is amazed at just how blind and cut off from reality such a
large segment of our public and leadership can be. Are you so naive
to believe in the security guarantees being bandied about by certain
international forces?
Haven’t you yet realized the simple truth that our village tranquility
and the opulence of your palaces is directly dependent on the
frontlines defended by our soldiers along the snow capped Mrav
Mountains and the sands of the Kur-Arax plains.
Don’t you understand that when our soldiers quit those positions we
will have forfeited the peace we now enjoy, obtained by the sacrifice
and travails made by thousands of fellow Armenians, and that Armenia
will be once again be engulfed in a torrent of death and destruction?
Have you become so blinded by the external opulence of the
international power brokers that you now fanatically seek the Nobel
Peace Prize and other awards they hold out before you. Have you
become so infatuated with their promises of gold and investments
once a settlement is reached that you are ready to betray and sell
the last sacred inheritance we possess – our fatherland?
Even without their empty promises you have squeezed the country dry
of everything possible; ingloriously selling off all its riches. And
now, in the name of your petty commercial interests, you are willing
to bargain with the memory of the victims of the Genocide.
I fully realize that you have little in common with the ideals of
honor and morality and that, when it comes to personal responsibility
towards the nation, you are sorely lacking. This evaluation equally
refers to the government and the leaders of the so-called opposition,
who are just as malevolent.
It is futile to appeal to your conscience and your sense of honor,
buried as it is under fleeting riches.
But if you for a moment believe that we will cave-in to all of this,
you are sadly mistaken.
We do not recognize those protocols you have signed. We will not
forfeit our homes, our sacred sites, our cemeteries in the name of the
"Madrid Principles"; a document that dishonors the free blood flowing
through our veins.
Remember these words when you go to negotiate in the name of our
country or before you sign some worthless scrap of paper. Remember
that the curse of people and the ire of the nation will follow the
fleeting acclamation and applause you receive from world leaders and
the comical team of political analysts and Turkish experts you heed.
This is the fate that awaits you. It will follow you constantly and
will stamp its deadly seal on the foreheads of your offspring for
seven generations to come.
The "guarantees’ now promised you will be forgotten. They will say
"bravo" and then throw you into the dust bin of history where you
will be devoured by those who now slavishly serve you.
This is the fate that awaits you.
Thus, I, in the name of all women of Artsakh and the residents of the
liberated territories, declare that you will not give anything back. I
state this as a frail woman but strong in spirit. Your condescending
and commercially-inspired protocols and Madrid Principles will remain
scraps of paper and a testament to your feebleness and spiritual
blindness.
The unity of the Armenian homeland must be restored. Not one inch of
land will be handed over to the enemy!